A girls gotta do what she has to do!

I know this is a boring photo for a blog focusing on beauty, French things, and Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™, but Sunday was a very busy day. I moved lot of furniture out of my house and into my store by myself. I hauled an oak dresser up from the finished basement and carried a French metal crib down the stairs from the upstairs, drove to my shop, and got ready to give a workshop. I parked the van in front of my store to be unloaded after the workshop was done.

This is a photo of what is inside the van. If my husband had been around, everything would have been arranged and secured with rope, but I was in a hurry and really nothing shifted on the trip to the shop. I intend to paint everything pronto!

The workshop was so much fun! The weather was perfect, sunny and in the high 70's. I love it when I can open the garage door and let the light in. People passing by also love to look inside and see what we are up to. What a great group of women, very enthusiastic, gracious, and fun. This is why I absolutely love what I do. I have met some of the most talented and lovely women since I became a Stockist almost a year ago now.

One of the women brought a chair that she had purchased for $12 and wanted to learn how to paint a piece of furniture. So after the other three women left, we picked up our paint brushes and started painting with Duck Egg Blue. I am so sorry that I do not have a before photo of the chair because it was nothing special and then when we added the clear and dark wax and distressed it, it really looked like a very sweet and special chair. She loved the chair as well as the process. What a fun way to end the afternoon!

Then it was time to unload my van and return it to the rental location. By the time I turned it in, it was 7:00pm so I inserted the keys in the mail slot and drove home very pleased with the day.

The reason I moved some things down to my shop was, not only to paint some more furniture, but also to refresh the store with new things since this little table sold, and I had some other furniture moved out that had been there for awhile.

Last week I devoted myself to focusing on painting some pieces of furniture that had been in my back room so I could move them to the front. This desk was really nothing special and I was getting tired of using it as it was. It was so quick and easy to paint! Since I now have wi-fi I can listen to Pandora and sit in my front room at my computer when I need to attend to other business.

I tried to create a color I had seen from another Stockist who had used Olive, Duck Egg Blue, and Arles, but somehow did not realize her exact color, so I added a little Old White to lighten it. I will have to try again with the color, but this turned out quite nice. It is waxed with clear and dark wax, and I still need to do a little distressing.

I usually paint the hardware particularly if it is very common. I like to add the dark wax to give it a little character.

This was the other piece I painted. It was actually a pine cabinet. I had it in my front room way back in July when I had first moved in and then moved it to the back because I did not want any unpainted furniture in the front room. I painted it in French Linen with the doors accented in a combination of French Linen and Old White. I finished the piece with clear and dark wax and moved it to the front room to house some French linens, textiles, laces and trims, and soon to arrive some of Annie's new fabric collection! It needs a little distressing which I will do today.

This is the before photo of the pine cabinet. Please stay tuned in the next few days as I am going to feature a post on stenciling furniture and fabric as well as some really special signs that I purchased yesterday for the store from a woman who loves Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ and does some really outstanding and unique pieces. In fact, she is soon to open her own shop!